$1 billion liquidation storm: Bitcoin falls below the $81,000 line of defense

According to Woofun AI, the cryptocurrency market is experiencing a sharp shock caused by the collapse of leveraged bulls. Bitcoin failed to maintain the key price support level of $81,000, causing the entire derivatives market to burst into a wave of liquidations of more than $1 billion. This risk release event, which was driven by falling prices, not only put an end to the previous rebound attempt to return to the $87,000 level, but also quickly pulled market sentiment into a panic zone, forcing a large number of highly leveraged traders to face the fate of forced liquidation. The sharp contraction in market liquidity and the fragility of the position structure were revealed in this decline, and have become the core contradictions in the current pricing mechanism.

It is worth noting that this liquidation was not evenly distributed, but showed obvious directional characteristics. Bullish positions became the main losers, reflecting the strong resistance and lack of confidence experienced by the market after a brief rebound, leaving great uncertainty about subsequent price trends.

Judging from the specific liquidation details and multi-currency performance, market selling pressure showed a trend of full expansion. At the time of reporting, Bitcoin was trading at around $80,744. At one point, it dropped to a low of close to $80,000 during the intraday period, falling 3% within 24 hours, with a cumulative decline of about 4% over the past week.

This decline directly triggered a total of $1.16 billion in liquidations in the derivatives market, with bullish positions liquidations amounting to as much as $1 billion and short liquidations of only $108 million, showing the severity of the bulls being stepped on. According to data compiled by Woofun AI, nearly $700 million of assets were liquidated in the last 4 hours alone, of which $650 million came from long positions, and a total of 166,769 investors' positions were forcibly closed within these 24 hours.

Although Bitcoin has attracted most of the attention, Ethereum (ETH) suffered the most from liquidation losses, with approximately $324 million of ETH positions being liquidated in 24 hours, surpassing Bitcoin's $2.4 billion. The price of ETH fell below the $2,500 mark, down 4% over the same period, with a weekly decline of 9.3%. The single largest liquidation occurred on the Hyperliquid platform, and one investor closed an ETH-USD position worth approximately $20 million. Other mainstream assets were also not spared: Solana (SOL) fell 7.2% to around $108.61; Ripple (XRP) fell 5.7% to $1.35; Binance Coin (BNB) fell 4.9%; and Zcash plummeted 14%, making it one of the major mainstream coins with the biggest decline.

This widespread decline shows that market pressure is far greater than reflected in Bitcoin's single indicator. Glassnode's October 7 report indicated that the ratio of the size of open contracts to market capitalization for large altcoins has reached the highest level before the October 2025 crash, and high leverage means that if prices continue to fall, the risk of forced liquidation will rise sharply. On-chain activity further confirmed this pressure. CryptoQuant data showed that the number of bitcoins transferred by short-term holders to exchanges exceeded 50,000 during the 24-hour peak period, of which more than 29,500 were transferred in a loss state, accounting for 59%. This is the biggest loss recorded by short-term holders in the past four months.

This phenomenon is in stark contrast to the profitable settlement market when Bitcoin broke through $85,000 on October 4. At that time, short-term holders contributed about 86% of Bitcoin inflows into exchanges, the highest value in a year. The shift from profit settlement to loss sell-off indicates that investor sentiment in recent purchases is deteriorating. Large amounts of Bitcoin deposits on exchanges indicate an increase in potential selling pressure. Although these transfers may not immediately turn into sell orders, they have increased supply pressure on the market.

In terms of technical support structures and potential liquidation risk zones, market participants are closely watching the game between key price ranges. Glassnode pointed out in an analysis on October 7 that Binance's spot order book shows that there are a large number of pending buy orders between $81,000 and $81,250. These orders have accumulated since October 3, forming the largest buying group below the current Bitcoin price. Previously, Bitcoin failed to break through the selling pressure range between $86,500 and $86,750, causing it to lose the buying support formed around $85,000, making the $81,000 to $81,250 area an important defensive zone.

However, concentrated buying does not equal price stability; these orders may be withdrawn at any time, and continued selling pressure may exceed current demand. The more critical variable is the distribution of liquidation in the derivatives market. Glassnode analysis shows that there are a large number of possible liquidation price points between $81,700 and $83,300. If the price rebounds to this range, it may trigger a new round of bullish liquidation.

Furthermore, there is another large liquidation risk zone around $75,000, which means that if current support fails, the price may face a deeper decline. The current market structure shows typical characteristics of 'heavy upward selling pressure and weak downward support'. Whether the $81,000 to $81,250 buying can effectively withstand the selling pressure will be the key to determining the short-term trend. If buying power is insufficient to offset the selling pressure, the price could quickly break through this range, triggering a chain of liquidation in the $81,700 to $83,300 area, and spread to the deep risk zone of $75,000.

This resonance between technical aspects and on-chain data reveals the high-risk state of the market in a fragile balance.

The market outlook and key game points ultimately focused on $81,000, which was the ultimate focus of attention. Currently, the competition between buying power and selling pressure is heating up, and any imbalance may lead to a sharp shift in the direction of the market.

If the Bitcoin price continues to fall below the $81,000 buying support zone, the risk of further decline will increase significantly. At that time, investors may notice more serious liquidation risk points discovered by Glassnode, including the deep liquidation zone around $81,700 to $83,300 and $75,000.

Under this scenario, the downside of the market will be opened up, and panic may spread further to other cryptocurrency varieties. Conversely, if buying can successfully maintain the $81,000 line, the market may experience a short period of stabilization and rebound, but upward selling pressure and high leverage risks will still exist. Investors need to pay close attention to on-chain capital flows and derivatives liquidation trends to determine substantial changes in market sentiment. At this critical juncture, the resilience of the market will be severely tested, and the loss of $81,000 will be a watershed moment to determine the next phase of the trend.